


Per Aspera Ad Inferi

by vonNepsa



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, First Kiss, Hate to Love, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Romance, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, this was not supposed to be angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:27:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vonNepsa/pseuds/vonNepsa
Summary: Though he ran as fast as he could manage, the voices, snickering and laughter seemed to be following him. Even worse, he could hear them getting closer and closer.Louis Thatcher lived a normal life if maybe a bit lonely but it was fine. What he didn't expect was to be dragged down to hell for an exchange program.
Relationships: Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Male Character(s), Lucifer/Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. It's a long way down

_Breathe in…. breathe out…. breathe in…. breathe out_

  
He splashed some water on his face and looked up into the mirror right in front of him. A small lonely tear was making its way down his left cheek as he met his own blue eyes, that sometimes took a shade of violet in the right lighting. The otherwise styled black hair was now in disarray and laid in wet stripes across his head. His breathing had slowly slowed down, the more he focused on it, the better it became. The feeling of dread was slowly leaving his body but something still lingered deep inside of him. He had managed to subdue this attack before it broke out completely. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips and his hands were about to splash some more water on his face when a small knocking on the toilet door broke through the otherwise quiet place.  
  
“Louis? Louis are you in there?” a low concerned voice could be heard from the other side.  
It was Abigail, his best friend, his only friend. She had been with him through hell and back and never stepped down. She was always there to cheer him up, with her Louis could be himself without any restrictions and arrogations.

  
Louis unlocked the door fast and a small freckled face appeared outside the door, framed by red locks of unruly hair. Abigail looked at him with concern in her eyes as she closed the door behind her and locked it again.

  
“Are you okay?”  
  
“....No...I mean yes, I-I think I’m fine now…” he stuttered.

  
“You’re not fine..” Abigail answered sharply. “..You’re shaking like a leaf!” 

  
He looked down at his hands. She was right, he was still trembling even though the worst was over. Louis glanced at Abigail with a distressed look, before she moved in the already cramped space and pushed him down so he was sitting on the toilet lid, then she started thrashing around inside her bag before kneeling before him and taking out a small chocolate bar which she held up in front of him.

  
“Eat this!” He took the small chocolate bar from her hands and tried to open it. His hands were trembling so much that they wouldn’t cooperate no matter how hard he tried. The hand holding the bar fell down upon his lap with a defeated gesture whilst the other one quickly covered his eyes as burning tears started falling from his eyes again. He lowered his head. Abigail slowly embraced him and let him rest his head upon her shoulder, as she slowly rubbed his back. It eased the black hole that once again had started to grow inside of him, helped him to take control anew. 

  
“Don’t let those bastards get to you!” she mumbled in his ear. “Don’t let them get the satisfaction of seeing you like this!” One of her hands grabbed his chin, making Louis lift his head a little so that his eyes met hers. 

  
“Listen to me, Louis, you’re worth so much more than those words. Do you think I would be here if anything of what they said was true?”

  
Louis shook his head, even though he only had gotten a short glimpse of them and wasn’t even sure if they had noticed him, the words from earlier years still rang inside his head. Even though he knew that they said what they said and done what they did was to get a reaction from, it had hurt him and impacted his life ever since. 

  
His hand was still clutching the chocolate bar when Abigail snatched it from him, opened it and shoved it into his mouth before he could object. He took a bite and let the chocolate melt a little before he started chewing. 

They stayed like that for a while, Louis eating the chocolate in silence whilst Abigail rubbed his back comfortingly. When Louis swallowed the last bite, Abigail let go of him. grabbed one of his arms and dragged him onto his feet again, she wetted a napkin and dried his now red eyes from the tears and somehow made him look a little bit more presentable again. Louis was a little bit longer than her, she reached to about his nose tip if they stood in front of each other, but what she lacked in height she made up for in strength, both mentally and physically. If she wanted to, she could have him lying on the ground with just one blow - thankfully she had not used that strength on him… yet. If you compared him to Abigail he looked like a walking stick beside her, she wasn’t afraid of telling the truth and stood up for what she thought was right, whilst he got tongue tied as soon as he tried to speak up. Louis wished that he could have just one grain of her confidence, then maybe he wouldn’t be in these kinds of situations anymore. The light patting on his shoulder brought him back from his thoughts.

“Does it feel better now?”

  
He nodded. “Yes…. yes, thank you…. it feels so much better now,”

Abigail dragged him into a hug. “You’re doing great!” she let him go from her embrace and gave him a smile. 

  
“We’re gonna be late for the orchestral rehearsal if we stay any longer. You don’t have to go if you….”

“No,” Louis cut her off before she could finish her sentence. “I’m going, it will be good to focus on something else”. He reached behind her back and unlocked the door. Abigail looked at him, probably looking for some kind of hesitation - if so, she would put in a veto and force him to take the rest of the day off with self-care instead. They had known each other for eight years now, she knew everything about him and vice versa, there was no hiding from her, but he was determined today. After a few seconds Abigail smiled once again and opened the door, showing off the mess right outside the door. Bookbags and instrument bags were strewn around the floor, pointing directly to the door they just emerged from. Thankfully not a single person was in sight. Louis was relieved to see that Abigail had also picked up his own bags during the turmoil when he just dropped everything and ran. 

He gathered his things, his book bag and the violin case, made sure that the instrument had not taken some kind of damage and waited for Abigail to do the same. She was, however, already ready, standing there with her ginormous backpack and french horn case. Sometimes Louis could find himself thinking how a person of her stature could carry those things without any kind of problem at all. With a nod they left the toilets together and started wandering to the part of campus where the Grand Auditorium and the rehearsal was located. 

The fact that Louis and Abigail managed to go to the same university and study classical music together had not been sure from the beginning, it was actually a lot of stupid luck from Louis’ side. He managed to get a scholarship and that was the only reason he was there, if he lost it he wouldn’t be able to pay for the education at all. 

When the rehearsal ended it had already gone dark outside. Louis said his goodbyes to Abigail and made sure to thank her once again for everything she had done today, before they both went their own way, Louis to his off-campus dormroom and Abigail to the apartment she was renting at the moment on the other side of the town. The dorm wasn’t located that far off campus, you just had to pass through a local park for about fifteen minutes. Usually Louis would enjoy this small walk back, feeling tranquil by the surroundings and taking in the scenery, but tonight dark clouds hovered overhead and he could also hear some low rumbling rolling in from afar. There weren't many people out, those going the same way as him had since long passed and those who still lingered were already on their way to seek shelter. Louis walked at a faster pace than usual, just in case he wouldn’t get home before the downpour started. The sky suddenly lit up by a bolt of lightning, followed almost instantly by a loud rumbling. The rumble startled him, as he did not expect it to come so sudden. With that he also increased the pace. Almost running now, a second lightning bolt spread across the sky when he suddenly felt how something grabbed him by his right arm. Almost losing his balance of the sudden movement, he felt his arm slipping out of the grip. He stopped right away and glanced behind him before turning around completely, searching for whomever it could have been and feared that someone needed help, but found instead that he was completely alone. Confused he viewed the surroundings, expecting to see at least something or someone but to no avail. 

  
“Hello?!” he said discombobulated, almost expecting someone to answer, but only got the howling from the wind in return. 

The sky was lit up anew, Louis spun around one last time before picking up the pace again, trying to hurry home. He only managed to take a few steps before a loud scream could be heard right beside him, followed by some indistinguishable voices and snickering. Puzzled he slowed down his pace and glanced at the direction the scream had come from. 

“Hello?!” he repeated, this time a bit more perplexed, but to no avail. There was no answer this time either, but the voices and the snickering hadn’t stopped, it was almost as if they had gotten closer. Another scream blasted over the park, this time coming from the opposite side. It was much longer and more desperate than the first one, more bone chilling - but the longer the scream lasted, the more it seemed to change from a scream to a manic laughter. A shiver traveled over Louis’ back, that was all he needed to hear before he started sprinting away from that place. Prank or not, there was no way he would stay to find that out. It felt like his heart was about to burst because of the adrenalin and a familiar tightness around the chest area started to spread the more he ran.

  
“Nonono...not now…” he gasped. “Not now… not now…” 

Though he ran as fast as he could manage, the voices, snickering and laughter seemed to be following him. Even worse, he could hear them getting closer and closer.

Another lightning bolt followed by a deafening rumble, he was nearing his dorm. Just as he started to think that this would be over soon - that he would get home, close the door behind him and as he calmed down come to the conclusion that his mind was playing a trick on him - he felt how one of his shoes got stuck in something and before he could react he landed hard on the pavement. The bags he was carrying flew up in the air and landed further away from him with a dull bang. Half in panic he tried to get up but noticed how his foot wouldn’t budge, it was stuck in something. As he collected his thoughts he noticed that the voices seemed to have disappeared, he could no longer hear it at all. He stayed still for a second, concentrating on every little sound he could hear before he let out a sigh of relief. That moment of relief only lasted a few seconds, if even for that long, for when he turned around he saw what was actually holding him in place. It was a hand, holding his ankle in a tight grip, poking out from a dark hole on the pavement. 

  
“..No” Louis said with a low voice as he tried to free himself by poking on the hand. “No.. no!”. The hand did not budge at all, rather it tightened the grip around the ankle a little more. Louis stared at the hand dumbfounded before the fight-or-flight response kicked in. He kicked, he tried to pull himself free but the grip just got tighter and tighter, so much it had started to hurt. The heart was beating fast in his chest now as desperation started to spread inside his body. He tried kicking the hand harder, but instead of tightening the grip further around the ankle, it started slowly descending down the hole again, pulling him with it. If he wasn’t panicking before he was panicking now, he kicked even more and flailed around with his legs, trying to find something to hold on to. The voices appeared again, laughing maliciously this time, echoing all around. Louis screamed for help as the sky lit up again whilst he slowly slipped away into a white haze at the same time the rumbling seemed to engulf him. 

  
........  
  


_“.....’went wrong’?”_

Muffled voices could be heard not too far away.

_“......didn’t go according to….”_

The white haze was still surrounding him, it was almost like he was floating on air.

_“I can see that it didn’t go according to plan!”_

Someone seemed quite annoyed, and it didn’t seem that this someone was the only one. More troubled voices could be heard the more he focused, his head hurt terribly though.

_“I thought I told you to bring him here unharmed, not in an unconscious comatose state!”_ the voice sounded enraged and loud screeches followed.

_“I’m sorry, Sir. It was not our intention to ..AAAARGH”._

The white haze seemed to lighten by the minute, he was no longer floating around as he thought but was seated in a quite comfortable armchair with his head rolled back. It was a very uncomfortable position though, but when he tried to move his head a sharp pain flashed through his whole body from the head and down his spine. He managed to groan quite loudly because of the pain. The commotion around him seemed to stop with that, it got terribly quiet for a second before someone started whispering.

_“What was that?”_

_“Did ya hear that?”_

_  
_ _“I think he’s waking up!”_

The voices sounded more excited than before. Slowly Louis tried to open his eyes but had to blink a few times to get used to the light. He groaned once more when a sharp pain shot in right behind his eyes, closing them shut again. It was only when the pain subsided he dared to open them once more, he even managed to lift his head a little without any acute flash of pain too. As he regained his sight he noticed that someone was standing right infront of him. He tried to focus his eyes a little bit more since his view was a little bit blurry. It was a beast of a man standing there, dressed in a red uniform, with golden glowing eyes that looked straight into Louis’. A big smile appeared upon the man’s face as he noticed that they had gotten eye contact and he threw his hands out in a welcoming gesture.

“Mr. Louis Thatcher! I’m pleased to welcome you to the Devildom.” he said with quite the enthusiasm.  
  
Louis looked at the man, who continued to speak, but he couldn’t sort out what the man was saying. He could hear some familiar words thrown around completely out of context and he couldn’t form those words into real sentences. Instead of focusing on the man he let his eyes wander around the big hall he was in, the gothic architecture, the enormous mullioned windows, at the other people standing a little bit behind looking back at him with curiosity, and then back at the man with the glowing eyes.  
  
“.... I hope you will enjoy your stay here,”  
  
The man with glowing eyes looked expectantly at Louis, waiting for him to say something.  
Louis met the man’s eyes again, averted his gaze and let his eyes view the hall once more. He had no idea where he was, what he was doing here or what they wanted him for. He let his gaze fall down upon his, now muddy, shoes as he slowly opened his mouth.

He screamed. _  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **MY BBY IS BACK**  
>  I created Louis at the age of fourteen back in the days and he has been with me ever since. I just thought it would be fun to have him interact with some demons for a change. I don't know how long this story will be, what I do know is that the tags and ratings may change as we continue down this road. 
> 
> Comments, critique, ideas - everything is very much appreciated ♥  
>  _English isn't my first language_
> 
> Come and say hi:  
> [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/vonnepsa) [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/vonnepsa/) [twitter](https://twitter.com/vonNepsa)
> 
> My "go-to" playlist:  
>  _[Hell is empty](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4cjwPlEnFV9y6jSf4Px7iS?si=xw3h30I3RymADi-i46owQA)_


	2. God's got a sick sense of humor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After ending up in the Devildom Louis has locked himself in his room, refusing to come out or even open the door. A surprising turn of event end up with some new acquaintances.
> 
> _or_
> 
> The part where Beel is pure af.....

Louis awoke in his bed with a loud gasp, only to realise that the nightmare he had been going through was very much real. The bed, of course, was not the one he was used to - but a bed in a room he had been assigned when he first arrived. So far he couldn’t complain about the comfort the bed gave him, since it was far better and softer than the one he was used to, the problem lied in where it was located. If he had wished to be anywhere - this place was located furthest down on the list. He couldn't recall how long he had been here, it was at least three days already - or three longer sleeping patterns since there was no sun to keep track of the time. Three days he spent in bed, in a room locked from the inside and which he hadn't left since he got there. 

The sound of the others living in this house could be heard during all the different hours of the day, sometimes they even knocked on the door and asked him to come out. He would have if it weren't for the small detail that they all were demons in disguise. Because out of all the realms he would be able to visit in his life - hell was the one he would be dragged in to and the shock had not left him just yet. 

Louis was first of all not a man of faith, he would rather call himself an agnostic or even atheist and the thought of a heaven and hell had just seemed so far away from his reality to begin with. At first he had thought this was some kind of prank, including getting drugged and kidnapped against his will, but it had soon dawned for him that this was not the case at all. To put it lightly, he had been chosen for an exchange program spreading over the three known realms and the man clad in red had been no other than the prince of hell himself. When Louis had objected, where he got that confidence from was still a mystery, the prince had just laughed, a laughter without any kind of happiness or excitement though.

“Unfortunately, you will have to stay here until your time is up.” Diavolo, as the prince's name had turned out to be, crossed his arms and gave Louis a sorrowful smile. “At the time being, you have 364 days left.”

“A YEAR?!” Louis had exclaimed quite loudly, gripping the handles of the chair he still was seated in.    
“B-b...but…” he faltered. “....what about my family? My friends….”

Someone had sighed. “They’re most likely to see you as a missing person and most likely see you as dead before you return.” A low voice had mumbled from further away.   
  


There was as if a stone fell inside of Louis or as if a gaping black hole had emerged inside his stomach. An icy chill spread across his body as soon as the words had been uttered.    
“They’re gonna think I’m dead?” he whispered, mostly intended for himself - like a confirmation of sorts. The thing that bothered him the most though was that no one denied the claim. 

  
“Belphie!” A big muscular demon had butted in and looked disappointanly at the other demon that had just spoken. 

“What? I’m just telling the truth!”

Diavolo seemed to have noticed Louis’ distress, even though he was still smiling towards him there had been a shift in his eyes and the left one seemed to twitch a little. With a friendly gesture he reached out a hand towards Louis and persisted when Louis first rejected it. There was a big lack of trust between them, or rather - the demon had a lot of faith in Louis whilst Louis did not trust the demon prince at all, he wasn’t ready to see an angry demon just yet though. Reluctantly he laid his hand in the demons outstretched hand, rose on wobbly legs from the armchair and was escorted towards the other demons for an introduction. 

Louis would later learn that the big demon’s name was Beelzebub and the smaller Belphegor. The others in the room had soon turned out to be his new housemates; all in all seven brothers. One of them, Mammon, had been tasked to show him around the school and his new home. The demon had not been very keen but the oldest brother scared them all apparently. To be honest, the oldest - named Lucifer- also scared Louis, not only because of the stern expressionless face and cold eyes; but also because the demon held a tail of what looked like a small suffering black blob with legs in one of his hands when Louis had first laid eyes on him.

Mammon had rushed him out of the hall not long after that, giving him a “tour” of the surroundings, leaving Louis with more questions than answers. No unnecessary words had been exchanged between them and Louis had blindly followed the demon around, not giving a second thought about memorizing anything of what he saw. It didn’t even feel like they had started before it was over again. They had entered the house that would be his home for the coming year, he had been shown his bedroom and here he was now, still locked inside ever since out of his own volition, feeling more lost than ever. It had become some sort of defence mechanism to not open the door and just stay inside the room where he felt at least a little comfort. 

A loud commotion outside of the room dragged him back to reality again from his deep thoughts and reminiscence. Angry rough voices seeped into the room through the door. 

" _ He is an adult, isn't he? He needs to behave like one. I will not allow Diavolo's plans to fail _ "   
Louis recognised Lucifer's, the oldest brother's voice. It sounded harsh when he spoke but was also filled with authority demanding respect and small hinge of determination. 

" _ Diavolo can plan all he likes but that doesn't change that he can not control the reaction to those plans. Especially not a human response _ " Satan’s distinguishable reprimanding voice answered in return. " _ There were bound to be some cultural shocks _ "

Louis creeped closer to the door, just so he could hear more clearly what the two demons were saying. That the conversation was about him he had already figured out, after all it seemed that his name was on everybody's lips ever since he came here. Once or twice someone had knocked on the door - but he had not opened the door to anyone. He just wanted this to be over, to go home, to live the life he had gotten used to - and who wouldn’t be traumatized by literally getting dragged down to hell. He was a stranger amongst strangers here.

“ _ Out of my way, Satan! _ ” Lucifer’s voice had grown louder. 

“You know very well that I can’t let you in here, Lucifer. You are NOT going in there!” Satan responded with an equally loud voice. 

“ _ Give him some time to gather his thoughts. You all know what it was like to wake up down here! _ ”

Louis sat on the floor right beside the door, listening to the fighting outside, his legs dragged up close to his body with his chin resting upon the kneecap. He didn’t want to hear more but something kept him in place, a small curious masochism excited to see what would happen next. Most of all he wanted to stay in this room, without any kind of interaction with the others on the other side of the door - but he also knew deep inside that something like that would be impossible. The arguing right outside was a testament to that. There was also a small soothing feeling to hear someone who he only met very briefly take a stand for his sake. 

“ _ Do not go there, Satan, I’m warning you. I’m gonna leave this be for now, but if he isn’t out by tomorrow morning I will drag him out of that room myself! _ ”

Heavy footsteps disappeared in the distance, on the other side of the door he could hear Satan let out a loud sigh before also walking away. Louis rested the back of his head against the wall. When he first had entered this room there had been a folded uniform laying on the bed, he had just moved it to one of the armchairs right under one of the small windows right beside. He glanced at it from where he sat, just laying there, discarded. The clothes he wore now were the same he had worn when he first came here, during the turmoil he didn’t really think about changing clothes or taking care of himself either. He had been lucky that the room came with a small bathroom, otherwise this self isolation wouldn’t have lasted for as long as it had. 

Straight opposite the bed was quite a black big baroque chest of drawers with an intricate pattern fully in gold. During the few waking hours of these past days he had been inspecting it from his bed, following the dramatic grandeur pattern from one point to another. Without even noticing he had moved from the floor to the drawer, dragging a finger across the elaborated decorations. The wood felt luxurious, probably made out of ebony, the details in gold  marquetry on all sides, on top - a black slab of dark marble. This could have been the masterpiece of one craftsman, the life’s work of someone long forgotten. Without any second thoughts his fingers had moved down to the handle of the top drawer, with a jank it flew open. In the drawer lay rows of perfectly folded white and teal shirts and black trousers, there also seemed to be some pair of socks and underwear there too. Louis grabbed one of the shirts and held it up in front of himself, it seemed to be the right size. He hesitated for a moment, before he grabbed everything he needed and entered the bathroom. 

Never had a shower felt so good before, it was like cleaning away a layer of grime that had been built up during these past days - at least that was what it felt like. He felt a little bit better too, even though uncertainty still lingered together with the constant looming anxiety. As he was buttoning the last buttons on the shirt there was a knock on the door, making him flinch from the surprise of not expecting anyone to do so. 

“Um… I’m sorry to bother you but….” a loud rumbling could be heard from the other side of the door before the voice continued. “It’s lunchtime and since you haven’t eaten for a while I brought you some human safe food. I’ll leave it outside the door….”   
  
Louis recognised Beelzebubs voice, at the mention of food he could for the first time feel how hungry he actually was. As if it was waiting for a que his stomach gave away a big rumbling. Beelzebub, he recollected, was the big muscular demon - but the thing that had stood out the most was the very friendly face he had possessed. Louis stood still for a second, debating whether he should open the door or not, when his stomach made another angry rumble. Silently he hoped that the demon already had left - as he slowly unhinged the lock and opened the door. 

Two purple eyes looked shocked back at him where he stood. The demon was crouching, with what looked like some kind package in his hands.   
  


“Oh, hi there, Louis!” Beelzebub rose again from his crouching position. “I was just about to leave this for you.” He held out the small package towards Louis with a smile. “I figured, since you haven’t eaten and so….”   
  


Louis grabbed the package a little hesitantly.

“Oh it’s safe for humans. I have double checked. Lucifer would kill me if I fed you something you can’t handle.”

A loud rumbling disturbed the conversation and Beelzebub put a hand on his stomach with a grimace.    
“I’m sorry, I should go and eat too. It was nice seeing you though.” the demon fired away a smile at Louis again before turning away to leave.

“You can eat with me!”

The words had slipped through his lips before he could stop them. He already felt awkward and probably looked quite dumb as he stood there dumbfounded. It was as if someone else spoke on behalf of him, he didn’t want to meet anyone - but his subconscious had other plans it seemed. Beelzebub had stopped and looked back at Louis with a warm smile.   
“Only if it’s okay with you, I would love to!”

The time seemed to move very fast and suddenly he was seated at the small table in the room, right across Beelzebub, unwrapping what had turned out to be a BLT-sandwich. Louis dug in with a blink of an eye, savouring the taste, feeling his inside celebrate for the sustenance. It felt like a millisecond before the sandwich was devoured.

“Thank you for the food, Beelzebub!” Louis said with a content voice, glancing over to the demon who was currently eating a second sandwich. 

“Please, call me Beel!” the demon answered with the mouth full of food. “It was the least I could do. I can’t imagine going three whole days without food. I can’t even go an hour without eating.”

“An hour?” Louis peered at Beel in disbelief. “That’s quite the overstatement, don’t you think?”   
  
“No, not all!” Beel swallowed the last piece of the sandwich. “Within five minutes my stomach’s gonna rumble again, I promise!” He didn’t even get to finish the sentence before a loud rumbling interrupted the conversation. Louis peered at Beel with confusion, but also with a hint of amusement. 

“Guess I was wrong then!”   
  
Beel gave away a small laugh and placed his elbows on the table, resting his head in one of his hands. Louis didn’t feel uncomfortable in Beels company as he first thought he would, he actually quite enjoyed having someone to talk to that didn’t bring up serious matters, but he couldn’t help feeling a little tense and nervous. Even though he got the impression that this was a normal jock, he couldn’t shake away the unsettling feeling knowing very well that a much darker side hid behind the surface.

Louis shifted a little in the chair he was seated in, fumbled a little with his hands underneath the table before letting out a sigh.

“You know… I’m sorry…” he started hesitantly. Beel lifted his head and laid it a little questioning to the side - reminding Louis a little of a dog.

“I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. I’ll admit that I’m an utter and complete wreck of a human, but I have also let it go out over you and I’m sorry for that….” Louis stopped and averted his eyes. He did feel a little guilty to be honest for locking himself up, but that was the most rational thing to do according to himself at that time. What he didn’t consider was that others might get in trouble for how he was acting and maybe that was the reason why a very scary demon brother was so uptight this morning.

“Why are you apologizing?” Beels' caring voice broke the silence. “You have done nothing wrong, the feelings you feel are very much real and you are allowed to feel that way. It should be us apologizing to you, not the other way around.”

Louis felt a knot forming in his throat and a burning sensation behind his eyes when he heard Beel’s words be spoken. He turned back his eyes and found that Beel was standing up, holding both hands on top of the table, looking a little bit worried. 

“But I don’t know how to act…..” Louis’ voice cracked, and as it did it was as if someone opened the dam and all the pent up emotions just came streaming down all at the same time. “I don’t know where I am, I don’t know anybody. I’m not even sure if I can trust you at all. I’m so scared - I’m just so fucking scared right now……”   
  
Louis let his eyes deter again, let his head hang down and saw small puddles forming on the table from the tears streaming from his eyes. It was as if someone had opened a faucet and just let everything run free, letting him spew everything that he had felt during these past days. There was a small relief inside though, to be able to actually speak out the feelings and not keep them inside, even if the receiver of his grieving wasn’t his first choice. All of a sudden he felt a warm palm on his hand - almost withdrawing it out of pure habit. The grip tightened around his hand before he could retrieve it though. 

“I promise you, Louis, that I would never lay a hand on you or do anything that would cause pain to you.” Beel’s voice had shifted from a mild tone to a more serious one. “I want you to know that I’ll be there for you, whenever you need me - I’ll be there. You can trust me!”   
  


The words spoken lingered for a while in the air, it took a while for Louis to take them all in. He really wanted to trust Beel in this, he wanted to have at least someone to talk to if he was supposed to stay here for a year. He sobbed loudly, tried to dry his tears with the hand not occupied by another and took a deep breath to calm himself down before looking up at the demon once again. 

“You promise?” His voice was nothing more than a whimper, and suddenly he felt embarrassed over the whole thing, crying in front of a demon and all. 

“I promise!” The grip around Louis’ hand tightened even more. “Think of it as a fangol team, or any kind of sports team actually!”   
  
“I don’t really…. play any sports….” Louis answered with a low voice.

“Is there anything else you enjoy?”   
  
“..... I do play the violin…”   
  
“Perfect!” Beel’s voice sounded a little more enthusiastic now but still very serious. “See it like this, you can be an amazing solo-player - but together with an orchestra you can add harmonies, making the piece even better… right? Same with sports! I’m your team now, your orchestra - so please, don’t be afraid of me.”   
  
Louis laughed at the comparison and wiped away some more tears from his eyes. So it was decided, Beel was, as he said in his own words, his teammate now, someone willing to fight for him and not against him. 

“Okay….you have my trust. Please don’t break it.” Louis tightened his grip too around Beels, ending up with some kind of awkward handshaking in the end. Beel was smiling again, even though some of the seriousness still remained in his eyes. They stayed like that for a while, a silent agreement, until Beel suddenly rose from the chair.

“I have to go now or I’ll be late for the afternoon classes.” He stretched out his back whilst talking and groaned a little. “Why don’t you join us for dinner tonight? I bet my brothers are just as excited as I am to get to know you.”   
  
Louis flinched at the question. Surely it had been a big step letting Beel inside this room, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to meet the rest of the brothers again after their first very brief introduction. Beel seemed to notice his hesitation.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I won’t pressure you to do it, but it would be nice to see you there. I’ll be there, you can sit beside me, and if it becomes too much to handle you can just leave. I won’t hold it against you, I don’t think anyone would.” 

Louis remained silent, many thoughts gathered in his head once again and his heart seemed to beat faster. If he went to the dinner and got a breakdown there he wouldn’t be able to ever step outside of this room again, he would stay here until the year had gone by and he could return to his own reality again. But if he didn’t go, when should he otherwise? There was nothing wrong in trying. He exhaled loudly.

“Okay…” The answer was very short, almost indistinguishable, but Beel lit up as soon as Louis agreed.    
“....but you have to promise to stay by my side, please!”   
  
“No worries, I’ll be there.” Beel’s whole face seemed to be smiling as he spoke. “How about I come and get you so we can go down together? Would that be okay?”   
  
Louis nodded in response, he was a bit apprehensive towards this but you had to start somewhere. Beel left not soon after that leaving him alone in the room again. Once again he glanced over to the uniform in the armchair - it was the same as Beel had been wearing. It was in an off-black colour, double-breasted, military-style jacket with a belt and a red half shoulder cape on the right side. Louis moved closer to the armchair, inspecting the uniform even closer, took it up in his hands, felt the weight of it. There was a mirror on top of the chest of drawers with a golden frame, he stepped into the view of the mirror and held the uniform jacket up against his body. It did not look bad at all. He opened the chest of drawers, took out one of the teal shirts and started changing.

A few hours later there was a gentle knock on the door. Louis opened the door expectantly to a smiling Beel, who’s smile just seemed to get even bigger when he noticed what Louis was wearing.

“I thought it would be best to go all in….” 

Beel reached out his hand, as a gesture for Louis to go first.   
  
“I’ll be right behind you.” said Beel as Louis first stepped out of his room into the corridor outside and closed the door to his room behind him. A sudden wave of uncertainty fell over Louis as he did so, making him take a deep breath to collect himself once again before slowly making his way down to the dining hall with Beel following close behind.

As they stepped inside Louis could see that everyone already was gathered around the big table and the loud conversations slowly died down as one by one of the brothers noticed them. Louis stopped in his tracks, overwhelmed over being in the spotlight. He could feel Beel laying a reassuring hand upon one of his shoulders before lightly pushing him forward.

“There is nothing to be scared about” Beel said lightly and comfortingly, almost like a whisper.

Louis could feel his legs shaking as he took another step forward. Beel had joined him on the side and kept a close eye on Louis as he slowly walked towards the table. Louis was very aware of the eyes staring at him, seeing his every movement. One pair of eyes seemed to pierce right through him though, coming from the very end of the table. He tried to ignore them but couldn’t resist to throw a glance at those piercing, frowning, crimson eyes. Swiftly he let his gaze break the eye contact as they joined the table. Louis took the seat beside Beel, having no one on the other side of himself, though directly opposite a demon with champagne hair was seated, shooting away an suggestive smile as Louis took his seat. Louis nodded in response, if he were not mistaken this was Asmodeus. Considering this small interaction, it was still as silent as the grave. The atmosphere wasn’t hostile, but there was something in the air making him very uncomfortable. 

“How nice of you to join us tonight.” a deep voice resonated through the hall. Louis glanced over to where it had come from and once again locked eyes with the crimson eyes belonging to Lucifer himself. “I expect you to be on your best behaviour at RAD and in front of me from now on.” The eyes fixated on him.

“Yes, sir…..” Louis swallowed and wanted to sink into the chair, becoming one with it. Lucifer hadn’t sounded angry, only stern and almost… a little disappointed. Lucifer seemed content with his answer, at least he stopped the glaring and didn’t say much more during the dinner at all. As soon as Lucifer had gotten his answer the atmosphere in the room changed and Louis was once again the topic on every brother's lip. Louis found himself enjoying the dinnertime and was happily surprised over how easy it was to speak to most of the brothers. The one named Belphegor had fallen asleep in his seat and Leviathan just wasn’t much of a speaker. Louis’ concerns seemed to vanish little by little, he participated in conversations, answering questions about himself and even found himself laughing now and then.

As dinnertime later ended, Beel followed Louis back to his room just for reassurance. Louis made sure to thank him for what he had done today before going to bed for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh, this chapter took me sooo long to finish, the writers block hit me hard with this one. I think you can see how terribly tired I am of this chapter at the end, I just want to move forward with the story now. Extra big thank you to my friends for being my sprinting buddies and giving me something to work with, without them this chapter would still only have ten words more or less. Comments and critique are highly welcome! Until next time  
> 


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